The Never Ending Love for Dada & The Story of How I Met Him

'Life and Destiny' will always have something in store for all of us. Its always important to hang on to what we love doing the most and worry little less about any immediate positive outcomes. As long as you hold on to it with all your heart, the results will follow.

This is what comes to my mind when I sit back and look at what happened on this very same day a year back. Though all that I dreamt over the last decade or so was to meet him in person, I never thought this day would come. I have had epic failed encounters of trying to meet him. I have seen him at a close distance but as they would say, When you are at a distance seeing and praying to the almighty, you are bound to be in a devotional prayer mood but just when the queue gets moving and you get closer, you are frozen, you just cant take your eyes of the almighty and it will take a few seconds for you to come back to the real world. That's what has happened to me over the years. I have to be very honest here, I never really had any courage to take that one extra yard to go say, 'Hello to him'. 

This man needs no introduction and If you know me well, you would by-heart know who he is. For those who don't, It was on the same day last year, I met my Idol(GOD) Sourav Ganguly. 

To begin with, It was the IPL time and I should thank My stars and the Delhi Capitals Management that Dada finally got an opportunity to be in Chennai. It was Thursday. Ashok ( My Identical Twin ) has good experience of doing this whenever Sachin was in town, so we decided that we would go to the hotel and give ourselves a good chance of meeting him. It was Match day and it was a 8 PM game. We knew for sure that Dada would come down for a team Meeting or someway or the other. We passed through the entry point of this star hotel and waited at one of its lobbies. It was around 2 PM in the afternoon. We were seated in the sofa and every-time we would see someone pass-by in Blue Colors, we would get excited. There was a corridor the other way and We decided to take turns to stand there and look for anyone who even remotely resembled Dada.. 

Time kept running and it was almost 4 PM. We knew the players would get ready and will leave around 5.30. We had an eye on the Instagram Page of the Delhi Capitals as well. We knew for sure once they start leaving the hotel they would LIVE stream it on Instagram. We rushed to the other entrance (There are quite a few) just to see if we got lucky. There was literally pin drop silence and we never spotted anyone in blue. We went back to the same place where we waited at first. A tall lad dressed up in the DC jersey with a bat in hand went past us. It was their captain Shreyas Iyer. We were thrilled, we knew Dada had to come that way. I as always, started getting nervous, My palm was all wet and it started shivering. It was almost 5.15 and we were on our toes ready to rush to the other entrance just in case the team left through the other entrance. I double checked to ensure the Notifications on the Instagram Page for DC was turned on.

We constantly kept an eye on the door to the left of us to see if the Team bus arrived. There were no signs of it. I was panicked. All of sudden in a few minutes, DC started LIVE Stream of the team getting into the bus. I was shattered. We ran to the other entrance but by the time we reached it was too late, they had enough securities deployed and we are in no touching distance. We could only see Dada moving away from us via the LIVE Stream. I literally had tears in my eyes. I was devastated. We saw the bus leave and there it was, yet another failed attempt of getting to meet him. It was 6 PM and we left home. 

DC were playing well last year and I was hoping if they could beat CSK in Chennai, they would all be in a happy mood and my chances of meeting him will be more brighter. If I remember it right, if DC had won that game they would have come back to Chennai on the 7th for Qualifier 1 ( They would have made it to top 2) . So there was a thought in mind, if not on 2nd there is always another opportunity on the 7th but I wasn't willing to take that risk. I was anxiously watching the game as if Dada played it in and I was rooting for them big time. To my dismay, DC ended on the losing side that day. Their chance of playing in Chennai again depended on other results. So it left me with no option but to rush to the hotel again. We reached there around 11.30 PM. 

This time around, we did not make the mistake of waiting at the other lobby instead we stood right where they left from earlier in the evening. So much anxiety, nervousness yet again. The team bus arrived and the heart rate started pumping. Prithvi Shaw walked in calmly. Punter followed him next. They went past us. All of a sudden we heard so much noise of people getting all excited and there he was, 'Dada walked in' and there were close to 10 people ( Teenagers wanting an autograph. No idea where they came from ). It caused a big chaos over there and all this happened some 100 metres away from us. We stood near the lobby lift. 

Dada was just there right in front of me. He walked past me, I went closer to him and all that I said was, 'Da......Da.....' Nothing else came out. The Hotel Manager stopped us from getting anywhere closer to him, I stammered like never before. Dada got into the lift and he went up. There were bouncers deployed to ensure they had full protection and safety. I went up to one of them and pleaded him, 'Anna, Please let me in. This is my only chance of meeting him. I literally begged' 

I think that Day, there was a god sent man amongst them. He came to us and asked us to take the other lift and head over to the restaurant where the team had Dinner. He gave us the name. If not for him, we would not have gone up. He is a local resident of Chennai and he told us all this in Tamil. I am so indebted to him ( Anna, If you are reading this. I am thankful to you )

We took the lift and we went up. The place was restricted and there stood the manager of the hotel who stopped us at an earlier instance. He politely asked us to leave but it was our only chance so we never moved an inch. A guy from the DC Management walked in to check, we told him the reason as to why we are waiting for. He asked the manager to wait for a while so that he can go check with Dada. I am not a BP patient but I am sure it shoot up to more than normal for that brief period of time. If the bouncer Anna was the God sent guy No 1, this person from the DC Management was God sent guy No 2. He came back smiling saying Dada asked you to wait here ( If you're reading this, Thank you Sir ). Till date, I never felt anything like that. The drastic graph pattern of your mind being all nervous one second to reaching the eternity. All relieved, We sat down on a table outside. 

It wasn't over. The nervousness had only begun. My mind was fully occupied with what do I tell Dada, when I meet him first. Where do I begin with. I kept torturing Ashok big time. I had the laptop turned on with the blog that I created for Dada. 

Rishab Pant, Rabada, Kaif - All of them walked past us and I was literally waiting for Dada to step out. I had my Self Introduction speech prepared as well. I was all ready, we felt some jitters around and there he was in his Delhi Capitals Jersey with a Cap and his trademark Glasses with a bag one sided. Good things happen not without its fair share of obstacles. We saw a group of guys rushing towards Dada to get his autograph, I was taken back, I thought that's the end of it. I was going to rip them apart if I am not allowed to meet him. I went closer to Dada and told him,

 'Hi Dada Hi Dada ( With Fear ), You asked us to wait'

Nervous moments, Anxiously waiting to hear what Dada would respond, He told the Hotel Management, 

'I would like to spend 10/15 minutes with them'

Was this a Dream ? Was it for Real ? Dada started walking and there I walked alongside him like a bodyguard. We went in and he sat on a chair and asked for our names. 

I introduced myself as Arun Raghavan and I told him I have a blog dedicated just for him with over 1 Million page views. I showed him the story of how I created an article that looked back at how Sana celebrated her birthday over the years. It had in-depth information and pictures alongside. He looked at it and exclaimed, 'Ah !! This is Lovely' with his trademark smile. 

Sana's Birthday Article

I also showed him a few other articles from the blog. Scrolled through it quickly. I had so many thoughts in my mind when I was doing all this, the laptop's battery shouldn't dry out, the hotspot Wi-Fi should work just fine. Thankfully there was no trouble with any of it. 

The checklist  - Ended up only showing 2 from the list

Next up were the huge archive library that I had built over the years for Dada. 45 GB of just Dada videos and collection's. Commentary/Batting/Bowling/Analysis - You name any, I had it. I played him one of his rare interview's from 96 and he was overjoyed. He then asked me for a bowling spell from 97 and luckily I had it with me, showed him that as well. He was all smiles looking at it.

Dada - All Smiles

Exact words from Dada when he was seeing all that, 

" Wonderful, Wonderful !!!

Why didn't we meet all these years !! "

The failed attempts, the sadness of having waited for more than 10 years for this day, the fear, the nervousness - Everything went away just like that. What more you need in life. You meet your idol and he tells you this. 

I showed him the India Jersey that I had with his name on the back of it. I told him if at all I wore an India Jersey it will only be with his name on it. He signed it for me. We took a photo with Dada. 

Close to My Heart

 

Blog Page

I got my Blog Page signed with his autograph on it. I gifted him a pen drive with 45 GB of all the content that I had of him. I was getting my things packed, I stood up and Dada said,

'Hopefully we make it to Qualifier 1 and come the 7th, we shall meet again. Do come'

It literally got me so emotionally. I was over the moon. Thanked Dada for his time and told him I I love him. Wished him luck for the remainder of the tournament. 

To be Framed - (I am the one the right) 

We came out and I was frozen. I could not believe what just happened. It was 2 AM(2nd of May), who will I go tell this to? Should I shout out loud ? All these thoughts came to my mind. Ashok knew the importance of making this moment count, so he took some good pictures of Dada and Me interacting. We got back home and I did not sleep until 5 AM. Writing this feels as if I took a time machine to look-back to when all this happened.

Moments that Matter

One big thing that I learnt that night, If I had a 100 reasons to Love him before meeting him, he just gave me a 1000 more to love him even stronger. The day and the meeting helped me immensely get over a tough time. It was a month before my wedding and it gave me the much needed energy to look forward to life with full of josh and happiness. 

The Kick & the energy of meeting Dada did not end there, A few days later, I had my pre-wedding photo shoot planned and as destiny would pan out, I was to get married to a girl who happens to be as big a fan of Dada as I am. We decided to take our first big step and we had wedding invitations designed 'Dada Themed' with the following written on it, 

' Like Dada, We are all set to kick-start our New Innings in June. He did it on the 22nd and we are doing it a week early on the 14th.  Perhaps for the very first time, the 1st Love of both the Groom and the Bride happens to be the same person and that in case of us happens to be Dada. Its

a very special beginning as we are all set to walk out of the Pavilion to script the best partnership ever '

Dada Themed - Pre-Wedding Photoshoot/Invitation 

We are living in a very tough time right now, I wanted to write this to tell all of us not to lose hope, lets have a belief that things will eventually work out and we will indeed have the smile back on all our faces. 

Love You Dada,
Forever your Biggest Fan

P.S - I sincerely hope Dada sees this and remembers me when I meet him the next time.